The Impact of Translator’s Gender Consciousness——A Comparative Study on Two Chinese Versions of Letter From An Unknown Woman from Feminist Translation Theory

By Chen Xin

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

For the B. A. degree

Department of Translation

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

April, 2017

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor Mrs. Pan Min for her continuous support and guidance, constructive suggestions, and to all those who gave me the opportunity to complete this thesis.This thesis would have been accomplished without their consistent and illuminating instruction. Her invaluable guidance and sincere encouragement has accompanied me throughout the whole process of my study. Her illuminating viewpoints as well as acuminous insight has provide a great opportunity to examine my thesis from different perspective, thus avoid many mistakes.

Finally, I am especially grateful to my family for their constant support and encouragement. Without their support and encouragement, it is impossible for me to complete this thesis.

contents

Abstract 1

1. Introduction 3

1.1 Research background 3

1.2 Motivation and Objective of This Research 3

1.3 Organization of the Thesis 4

2. Literature Review 5

2.1 The Connotation of Feminist Translation Theory and Its Main Ideas 5

2.2 Studies on Feminist Translation in Western Countries and China 5

2.3. A Brief Introduction to Letter From An Unknown Woman 6

3. Comparative Analysis on the two Translated Versions 7

3.1 Introduction to the Two Chinese Versions 7

3.2 Differences of Language expression of the Two Translated Versions 8

3.3 Gender Consciousness in the Translation of Woman’s Physiological and Psychological Experiences 10

3.4 A Brief Summary of the Comparative Study 12

4. Conclusion 13

References 15

The Impact of Translator’s Gender Consciousness——A Comparative Study on Two Chinese Versions of Letter From An Unknown Woman from Feminist Translation Theory

Chen Xin

Department of Translation

School of Language and Culture

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

Abstract: Feminist translation theory was born in the background of the culture turn in eighteenth century, which is the product of feminism, gender and translation. It emphasizes the translator’s subjectivity, requiring to eliminate the gender discrimination in translation studies and translation practice and to redefine the relation between translation and original, translator and author. Based on the theory of feminist translation, this paper adopts the two Chinese versions (Chen Ying version and Liu Xiangya version) of "Letter from an Unknown Woman" by Stefan Zweig as case study. In order to explore the differences between translators of different sexes in translating literary works, it selects different text fragments of the two Chinese versions and try to make a comparative analysis. Accordingly, discussed from the translators’ translation process and their translation methods, this paper comes to the conclusion that translator's subjectivity is important in the process of translating works.

Key words: Feminist translation theory, translator's subjectivity, Letter from an Unknown Woman

摘 要：女性主义翻译理论诞生于十八世纪文化转向的大背景下，是女性主义与性别和翻译碰撞下的产物。强调译者的主体性是它亘古不变的主题之一，它呼吁消除传统翻译理论与翻译实践中的性别歧视，重新定义译作与原作、译者与作者之间的关系。本文从女性主义翻译理论出发，选取奥地利著名作家茨威格的传世名作《一个陌生女人的来信》的两个汉译本（沉樱版和刘祥亚版）进行对比研究，通过对两中文译本的不同文本片段进行对比分析，试图探讨不同性别的译者在翻译文学作品时的差异，论证译者主体性在翻译作品过程中的重要作用，并进一步探讨性别差异对翻译实践的影响。

关键词：女性主义翻译理论；译者主体性；一个陌生女人的来信

1. Introduction

1.1 Research background

Before the advent of Western feminist thought, the translation seemed to be sex-neutral. But the truth is that translation and gender have been inextricably linked from ancient times. The conventional view holding sway is that a translation is considered a secondary work dependent on, and subservient to, the original text, just as women are assigned dependent functions under patriarchal power. So a lot of people like to use "infidelity beauty" as a metaphor for translator. Unsatisfied with the notion that translator, translation and women are all relegated to the inferior class, feminist translators do their utmost to cast away the conventional sexism ideas in translation studies and social ideology. Under the background of the cultural turn in the 1980s, feminist thought combined with gender and translation, and that’s when feminist translation theory formed. The purpose of this theory is to criticize the traditional concept of placing women and translations at the bottom of society and literature. And soon the Western feminist translation theory was introduced into China, making an impact on China's female literature and translation studies. However, the different backgrounds of Chinese and Western culture and history made it difficult for the further study on the theory in China and that’s why the domestic research on feminist translation theory is still at the initial stage. Therefore, it is very meaningful to explore the translation practice of Chinese translators in Chinese context from feminist translation theory. It is in this context the different Chinese versions of Letter from an Unknown Woman came into the vision of feminist translation research. The different translations on the same female subject by different-sex translators provided a lot of materials for the further study on this theory.

1.2 Motivation and Objective of This Research

The domestic research on feminist translation theory originated from western countries, and generally speaking, the translation practice under the influence of gender is far away from enough. In the present circumstances, most of the research in China are just some comments on foreign theories or simply making some relevant text analysis based on the theory. Real theoretical development and localization practice are scarce. "Letter from an Unknown Woman", as a famous masterpiece at home and abroad, has been translated by many excellent translators. And the work from a female point of view, tells a deep and selfless love of her entire life, fulling of feminist color. So in these ways, it actually provides a good material for localization research on feminist theory. In terms of purpose of this thesis, it aims to manifest the role of translator’s subjectivity and how gender consciousness effect the translators’ work. And hopefully, according to the comparative study on the two Chinese versions of “Letter from an Unknown Woman”, it can provide some help on further study of feminist translation theory.

Specifically, this thesis will attempt to answer following questions:

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